Rounding up the best nonfiction for children and teens

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Our Solar System by Seymour Simon (with gifting suggestions)

Born almost 5 billion years ago at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, our Solar System is a place filled with mystery and wonder. In the last fifty years, we have learned more than ever about the farthest reaches of our world. With dramatic full-color photographs and spacecraft images, Our Solar System takes young readers on a fascinating tour of the sun, the eight planets and their moons, plus asteroids and comets. Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon presents this new, updated edition of his much-admired book about the vast and mystifying part of the universe that we live in.

A perfect book for an elementary age child just starting to show an interest in space. Simon’s name is a staple in library nonfiction collections, for good reason. His topics are well-researched, and accompanied by striking photographs and illustrations. Each planet gets individual coverage (including Earth – so many similar books don’t treat earth as an individual planet!), as do the sun, Pluto (I don’t care what the reason for its demotion is – and that reason is explained clearly – it will always be a planet!), asteroids, and comets. Not enough information for a report on any one of those, but a great jumping-off point.

Gift suggestions for this one are almost too numerous to sift through. My kiddos will be getting a copy along with a gift certificate for one visit to the nearby New Mexico Museum of Space History. They can’t get enough of the place! If you are not lucky enough to have something like that nearby, you could add a movie to watch together: